KIRKUS REVIEW

A valuable resource for
those wondering whether there is a chance that cancer runs in their family.

Ross (Director, Cancer
Genetics Program/Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) has the ideal
background: oncologist, cancer survivor who carries a cancer gene mutation, and
cancer gene researcher with a mission to help people. She sends an upbeat
message that learning about a cancer mutation in one’s family history is not
about coping with bad news; it is about taking control and making choices.
Although readers learn about the author’s decision-making process when she
discovered the risks of her mutant gene, she does not claim that they were the
best choices at the time nor does she prescribe what choices others should
make. She organizes her information with great care and clarity, and
thankfully, she lightens the reading with her personal story and those of the
cancer patients she has known. Ross explains how cancer mutations are passed
through families, how to recognize the signs of a cancer mutation, how to
create a revealing family tree, how to get genetic counseling and genetic
testing, and how to tell family members that they may be at risk, often
information they may not want to hear. Furthermore, she describes how to manage
one’s risk when experts give conflicting information or when information is
limited. The chapter on targeted treatments, subtitled “Realities, Myths,
Possibilities,” is sometimes a bit technical, but Ross calmly advises readers
to evaluate current research on new treatments in the same way they researched
their family history: with persistence, honesty, and toleration for the
discomfort of not knowing. Appendices provide additional practical information
on inherited cancer syndromes and their risk management, and a resource list
contains the names and websites of helpful support organizations.

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